


The Taste

by felineranger



Category: Red Dwarf (UK TV)
Genre: Angst, Bondage, Brief Violence, Incest, M/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-04 11:31:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21196961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/felineranger/pseuds/felineranger
Summary: Snared in the web of his half-brother’s sick games, a desperate Billy Doyle makes a dangerous gamble to feed his addiction.





	The Taste

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Janamelie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Janamelie/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Addiction](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16988844) by [Janamelie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Janamelie/pseuds/Janamelie). 

> A remix of ‘Addiction’ by Janamelie.

_This isn’t living._

Billy lies in bed, staring at the ceiling, teeth and fists clenched. Sebastian’s door is locked once again. He can still see the mocking triumph in Hunter’s ice blue eyes as he closed the door in his face, can hear the decisive snap of the lock turning, as loud as the fall of an axe, cutting him off.

The problem with addiction; it’s addictive. Part of Billy had known, even that very first time, that the little sips his half-brother was offering him to slake his thirst would not be enough for long. They build a habit, then a tolerance, and before you know it you want more. You always want more. And then you start to _need_ more. Sebastian thought he was being so clever when he started this, but he didn’t understand what he was starting. Not really. 

If the Voter-Colonel has a weakness, unimaginable as that seems, it’s that he doesn’t truly understand human nature. That lack of empathy that’s made him so ruthless - and ultimately so successful - is a blind spot. He’s observant enough and certainly intelligent enough to work around it most of the time; enough to be able to predict the actions and reactions of those around him and manipulate them accordingly. But there are some things he’ll never fully grasp; and with his almost preternatural discipline and self-control, addiction is one of them. He’d really thought this would be enough to keep Billy’s urges at bay. To keep him under control. He’d been wrong. All he’s been doing these last few months is pouring fuel on a fire that’s about to consume all three of them, and he’s only just started to realise his mistake. 

Two weeks ago, Billy had walked in on him dressing. In all fairness, it had not been intentional. All he’d wanted was to tell him a window in the conservatory wasn’t closing properly, but when Hunter had brushed past him with his usual look of smug disdain in the hallway, he’d been reliably unhelpful. 

“Hey, Dogsbody. Where’s my brother?”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“I’m afraid I don’t answer to that name. Or to you.”

“Oh, I can think of a lot more names for you.”

“As I can for you.” Hunter looked him up and down with disgust.

“Am I to assume you don’t actually know the Voter-Colonel’s exact whereabouts at this point in time? That would certainly be a shock to the system. It can’t be easy to lose track of someone when your head’s buried in their arse.”

Hunter’s lip curled, “You really are a vulgar creature.”

“And you’re my brother’s pet bitch, so answer the question. Where is he?”

“He’s in his room, and he does not have time for the likes of you. Don’t bother him. He’ll be angry.”

“As if he’s a ray of sunshine normally,” Billy muttered as Hunter walked away. Irritated, he headed to Sebastian’s suite and walked in without knocking. “Oh, mighty Voter-Colonel! I know you don’t have time for the likes of me but I thought you should know...” The words died in his throat.

Sebastian was standing in front of the open wardrobe in nothing but a pair of deep emerald green silk boxer shorts. His hair, still just damp from the shower, fell to his shoulders like shining satin ribbon. They stared at each other.

Billy waited for the wrath, the fury. He knew he’d been foolhardy in bursting in and he was going to pay for it somehow, but in this moment, with Sebastian in front of him looking more unguarded, more _undone_ than he’d ever seen him, even in that dark cursed room down the hall, he thought any punishment would be worth it.

Sebastian, unsurprisingly, had pulled himself together in the space of a second, dark eyes hardening as he spoke; but to Billy’s surprise it wasn’t a reprimand. “_What_ should I know?”

Taking the opportunity while it presented itself, Billy sidled further into the room. “Window,” he croaked out. “In the conservatory. Broken.”

“Smashed?”

“Won’t shut.”

“And you needed to tell me this right now because...?”

Billy gulped. “It’s a security risk. I didn’t know you were...”

“Never mind,” Sebastian cut him off brusquely. “I’ll get someone to sort it out. Is that all?”

Billy didn’t move. He could smell Sebastian’s skin, the enticing musky spicy scent of whatever expensive shower oil he used that left that fine skin so soft and gleaming. He’d breathed in that scent so many times recently, mingled with sex, sweat, and leather. It made his head swim. He took a step towards him.

“Don’t.” It was only one word, but it was filled with enough dark warning to give Billy pause, even in his lust-drunk stupor. But there was something beneath the menace, a high-note of something as subtle as the perfume on his skin. He realised that this was the closest he’d ever been to an almost-naked Sebastian without being bound and muzzled like a rabid dog. He realised that Sebastian had just realised the very same thing.

“Don’t what?” he asked quietly. _You are alone with him. For the first time in god-knows how long. The servants are downstairs and so is his lapdog. And you’re bigger than him, you always have been. Under all the power, all the status, this is all he is. _He allowed himself to imagine it, just for a moment. Those wrists pinioned in his hands, that body spread beneath him like a feast, the sweet taste of power finally reversed. Revenge for every second he’d spent in that blissful hell next door, being able to look but not touch. Sebastian would kill him for it, but maybe it was worth it. _This isn’t living._

He walked towards him until they were toe to toe. Sebastian, unintimidated, stood his ground. “Don’t push your luck,” he warned quietly.

“Why not? I’ll suffer for it later either way.” He reached up and ran his fingers through that soft hair, and felt Sebastian’s whole body turn to stone, although he hadn’t lifted a finger to stop him.

“Billy,” his voice was low and threatening, but underneath the commanding tone Billy thought he detected the barest suggestion of unsteadiness. “Get. Out.”

“What if I don’t?” he asked, voice hoarse with excitement. He leaned forward, lips parted. There was the sound of a pistol being cocked behind him.

“Then I would be only too happy to shoot you where you stand,” Hunter’s voice said matter-of-factly. Billy’s stomach lurched in impotent fury. He looked into Sebastian’s eyes and saw dark amusement, but also maybe the faintest hint of relief. “I won’t tell you again,” Sebastian said simply.

“I told him not to bother you, Voter-Colonel.”

“It’s fine,” he replied dismissively. “My brother wished to draw my attention to a small security matter. Now he has done so, he can leave. Show him back to his room.” A faint cruel smile played on his lips as he met Billy’s gaze. “And then come back here to me.”

Hunter kept the gun trained on him all the way. “Don’t think we don’t know how low you would stoop,” he said before he left him, eyes and voice coldly furious. “You’re despicable.”

Billy couldn’t help but snort, “Let me tell you something for nothing. To my brother, there’s no such word as ‘we’.”

“I told you not to bother him.”

“Like he said, it was a security matter. I thought he’d want to deal with it personally. You know what a control freak our Seb is, don’t you? Better than anyone. Except me, of course.”

When Hunter left, slamming the door behind him, Billy had fallen to the bed and screamed into his pillow, then worked out his frustrations on his sketchpad. That probably would have been the end of it. But it wasn’t. 

Billy doesn’t know if Hunter stole the pad and showed Sebastian out of spite, or if it was Sebastian’s own curiosity (or maybe concern) that led him to leaf through those pages. Either way, it doesn’t really matter. What he found disturbed him enough to finally realise he’d been feeding this addiction, not controlling it. Since then the bedroom door has been locked; an enforced detox. Cold turkey. But it’s already too late. The craving is insatiable.

Billy’s eyes close as he pictures what is happening in the room just down the hallway. He’s caught the live show enough times to be confident it’s reasonably accurate. Hunter, pale and naked, up against the wall while Sebastian, still wearing as much as practicality allows, grinds into him with slow cruel deliberation. Sebastian doesn’t kiss, but he’s just tall enough for his lips to hover at the exposed nape of Hunter’s neck, so that he can feel the whisper of warm breath against his skin. Or maybe they’ve retreated to the _other_ room. Maybe Hunter is strapped down and suffering right now, offering up his pain for Sebastian’s pleasure and loving every sick second. Whatever humiliation, whatever form of torment is being inflicted on him, Billy would trade places in a heartbeat. He’s reached that tipping point now, like the guys he’d met in rehab who’d been reduced to drinking mouthwash and other disgusting things, just to get a hit of alcohol. 

But if he’d give anything to take Hunter’s place, he’d do more to put Sebastian in it. He’d burn himself alive for one night with the tables turned. One night of Sebastian on his knees; bound, beaten, broken. One night to make those drawings reality. One night to make him pay. He’d burn the _world_.

Withdrawal makes you desperate, makes you crazy. Something inside him snaps and Billy realises, with absolute clarity, that he’s ready to do anything, literally anything to feed his addiction. If this doesn’t work then death is certain, but who cares. _This is not living._ His eyes, when he opens them again, are aflame.

The following morning, when Sebastian is gone and the few servants are going about their business, Billy goes to the office in the bedroom. And he makes some phone calls.

Another two weeks go past. Sebastian’s door remains locked at night. It hurts, but Billy grits his teeth and bears it. He has patience. He’s waited for fifteen years, after all.

The day finally arrives. When he hears the first shout outside, he smiles grimly to himself. There are more shouts. There is gunfire. Billy waits for a while, listening to the battle play out, then he stands and stretches, and goes to find Sebastian. He finds him in the bedroom office, trying frantically to make a call to one of his lieutenants. No-one is going to answer him, as Billy already knows. All of Sebastian’s closest allies are either very busy right now or they’re already dead. Hunter is of course hovering by his brother’s side, quivering with nervous energy, his gun drawn.

He watches Sebastian throw the phone down in frustration. “What the fuck is this? What is happening?”

“They’re coming for you,” Billy says simply.

“Who?” Sebastian demands, and the look on his face is nothing Billy has ever seen before. A mix of fury, astonishment and fear.

“Who do you think? You’ve made a lot of enemies over the years, Seb. But you shouldn’t have made one out of me.”

“What are you saying?” Hunter turns the gun on him, but he is immediately distracted at the sound of the front door being smashed open. The clatter of combat boots on the tiled floor echoes in the entrance hall and begins to advance up the stairs. Sebastian’s face is pale and disbelieving. “Billy, what have you done?” he whispers.

Before Billy can reply, armed guards appear in the doorway and march in, guns raised. The woman leading them speaks up. “Colonel Sebastian Doyle, you are under arrest.”

To give Sebastian his due, he shows no outward sign of being cowed. “On whose authority?”

“President Carmichael.”

“You mean Minister Carmichael?”

“Not as of 2pm today. The tyrant Johnson has been deposed. President Carmichael is our new glorious leader.”

“That weasel has managed to stage a successful coup? How? My squad would never let this stand, and their combat abilities are second to none!”

“He obtained inside information about your team and security defences, both military and personal, hence the ease with which we were able to breach your estate.”

“Inside information?” 

He turns to Billy, the terrible realisation dawning on his face. “_You_?”

“You’ve always underestimated me, Sebastian. I may have my flaws and my weaknesses but I’m not an idiot, and I’m certainly not deaf or blind. Do you really think I’m oblivious to everything you do and say? Do you know how many of your enemies have approached me over the years, trying to buy my loyalty, my knowledge? I’ve always resisted, until now.”

“Traitor!” Sebastian lunges at him, but the general quickly intervenes.

“Soldiers, place Colonel Doyle under arrest.”

Hunter immediately positions himself in front of Sebastian, chest puffed out and pistol raised. “Halt!” he bellows. It is a useless gesture. He is shot on the spot. He falls to the ground at Sebastian’s feet, those blue eyes still open wide as blood pools around him. Sebastian stares down at him, frozen in horror, and Billy allows himself a few seconds of bitter satisfaction. He doesn’t believe Sebastian capable of love, and for all their dark sadistic sexual games, he doesn’t think he ever particularly even cared for Hunter. He was useful, perhaps even entertaining, nothing more. But the jealousy still remains, and the pure shock on Sebastian’s face in this moment is still morbidly gratifying. “I somehow doubt you’re going to cry for him, Seb. But perhaps take comfort in the fact that dying for you is how he’d have wanted to go,” he remarks coldly. Sebastian can’t even speak, still staring down at the body at his feet in numb disbelief.

“On your knees, Voter-Colonel,” one of the soldiers orders. Every gun in the room is now trained on Sebastian. For a moment, just a moment, Billy sees those dark eyes flash with fury and defiance, and fears he will refuse. But while he may be proud, Sebastian is not stupid. Grudgingly, he sinks silently to his knees, and is unceremoniously handcuffed. Billy thinks it may be the sweetest sight he’s ever seen. “Forgive me, little brother,” he tells him earnestly. “It’s for your own good.” He turns to the general. “The bargain?”

She nods to one of the soldiers who tosses him the keys to the cuffs. “There you go, Mr Doyle. You are, for now at least, your brother’s keeper.”

Billy sees Sebastian’s eyes widen, and he finally finds his voice. “WHAT?”

“That was the deal, Seb. My knowledge for your life. I gave them the power to remove you, on the proviso you would not be harmed.”

“I can’t promise the deal will hold,” the general warns them. “Your brother is dangerous and he’s made a lot of dead bodies. Whether the president decides it’s safer, or his enemies demand justice, they may yet decide to execute him.”

“I’m sure if it comes to it we’ll find a way to secure his safety. We Doyles are nothing if not resourceful.”

“I believe you,” she replies dryly.

On the floor, Sebastian struggles to free himself of the cuffs. “No. No! Kill me now! Just fucking shoot me! I’d rather be dead than his prisoner!”

Billy smiles indulgently, “You’re angry right now, Seb. You don’t really mean that.”

“Yes, I do! Kill me! Take me into custody! DO NOT LEAVE ME WITH HIM!” His voice rises in desperate horror.

“Sorry Colonel. But a deal is a deal. Mr Doyle, we are entrusting your brother and his estate to you. President Carmichael sends his...appreciation for your cooperation.”

“Thank you, General. I trust your team will clear up the mess?” He gives Hunter’s corpse a disdainful nudge with his foot.

After the soldiers have all cleared out, Billy stands over his defeated brother. He is still on his knees on the floor, hands pinned behind him, trembling head to toe. His eyes fix on the bloodstain where Hunter fell. Billy wonders for a fleeting second if those are tears he sees in his eyes, and if it’s possible that despite the liquid nitrogen pumping through those veins, the Voter-Colonel is capable of a degree of sentiment after all. On balance, he decides it’s far more likely those tears are for himself.

“I did it for you, Seb. It was the only way to save you.”

“No.” Sebastian looks up at him with undiluted hatred. “You did this for you, and we both know why.” He manages to choke out a short bitter laugh. “I’ve got to hand it to you in one way though. You were right, I underestimated you. In just about every way possible. I can’t believe this is happening. How can my whole life, my career, everything I’ve worked for, have been destroyed by _you_?”

Billy squats down in front of him. He looks Sebastian dead in the eyes. “How did you think this was going to end? How did you see this playing out? Did you really think I’d settle for this, tolerate this, for the rest of my life?”

“Yes. Why wouldn’t I? You’re a pathetic trash-fire of a man. You should be fucking grateful for all I’ve done for you.”

“Grateful?”

“I could have killed you at any time, you bastard. I should have done. Instead I dragged you out of the gutter, brought you into my home, and gave you everything you could want or need.”

“Not _everything_.”

Sebastian takes a deep steadying breath. “I gave you as much...as much of me as you could reasonably ask for. More.”

“But, see, here’s the thing, Seb. _I never asked for it._ I wanted it, there’s no point denying it, but I never asked.  _You_ brought me into your house. _You_ brought me into your bedroom and your twisted little scene with Hunter. You’re the one who dangled yourself in front of me, night after fucking night. Why?”

“It kept you off the booze and out of trouble.”

“There’s a million ways you could have done that. You know what I think?” Billy reaches over and gently pulls the band from that silky hair. It tumbles fetchingly around Sebastian’s face. “I think you wanted this all along.”

“If you really think that, you’re utterly delusional,” Sebastian growls.

“Oh, maybe not like this; I don’t think you ever saw _this_ coming. The loss of your power, your position, your army. Hunter dead on the floor. Which I’m not sorry about, by the way. He was an idiot and a pompous jerk. But you wanted me to snap, and you tortured me until I did. Because you’ve never been able to admit, even to yourself, that you want this as much as I do.”

“Go to hell,” Sebastian tells him through gritted teeth.

“What other sane explanation is there?”

“Sane?” Sebastian actually laughs. “Sanity is not a family trait. I did it because I could, because it was fun, and because I thought if I gave you just enough of a taste, it would be enough to keep you in check.”

“Turns out that was your biggest mistake, Seb.” Billy lifts his hand to caress that smooth cheek. Sebastian trembles at his touch, and it confirms all of Billy’s darkest suspicions and greatest hopes. “Don’t ever give an addict a taste. We always want more.” His hand moves slowly down to close firmly around Sebastian’s throat. He feels him gulp and smiles to himself. “And you, Voter-Colonel, are about to get a very real taste of your own medicine.”

  
  



End file.
